Thursday, May 8, 2008

Charities Learn that Donors Make Decisions Based on Data

Apparently, there’s an organization in Boston helping nonprofits understand what we already know at Charity Navigator - that today’s donors demand data about the charities seeking their support. An article in The Boston Globe explained how this program teaches the charities how to make effective pitches to potential donors. The reporter, Sacha Pfeiffer, sums it up perfectly when she says “many prospective donors are turned off by pitches that try to tug at their heartstrings. Instead, they want to know if an organization is well-run, financially sound, innovative, and poised to truly make a difference…”

That’s not to say that donors don’t care about the charity’s mission or the plight of those it is trying to help. Rather, donors want to differentiate between the more than 1 million nonprofits vying for their support. Basically, they want to support the charity that will give them the biggest bang for their buck, which Dale Bearden, a managing director at Babson Capital Management, articulates in the article when he says "I know they're all going to help people, so I want to give my money to someone who will help people three times as efficiently."

1 comment
:

WHOA! The problem of CEO pay has developed because Company Boards used other Companies CEO pay as a reason to increase their CEO pay, whereupon the first company then used that raise to increase theirs. Not only stupid but a refined form of highway robbery!Let us not start using commercial CEO pay as a yardstick to establish Charity CEO pay!

Links

Welcome

On this blog, professionals from Charity Navigator, the nation's largest independent charity evaluator and leading donor advocate, share their thoughts on emerging issues relating to the nonprofit sector and offer tips to help you make the most of your charitable endeavors.